Ferguson cop suffers 'severe brain injury' and is 'fighting for his life' after attack at Michael Brown protest, police say



The chief of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department said one of his officers suffered a "severe brain injury" and is "fighting for his life" after he was attacked amid recent protests marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, USA Today reported.

A white Ferguson officer fatally shot Brown — who was black — in 2014, after which angry leftists across America rioted, believing Brown surrendered to the officer before being shot. With that, the Black Lives Matter and "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" movements were born. But the Justice Department months later concluded Brown didn't have his hands up; in fact, the officer who shot him did so in self-defense. Even far-left Washington Post op-ed writer Jonathan Capehart admitted "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" was "built on a lie." Despite all that, leftist protests, memes, and chants have persisted.

'The Ferguson Police Department since 2014 has been a punching bag for this community.'

Which brings us to what happened Friday night in Ferguson — right outside police headquarters, in fact.

Police Chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis Brown and his colleagues were trying to make arrests after protestors damaged a fence outside the police station. Doyle said a protester charged at Officer Brown, who fell backward and hit his head on the ground, leaving him with a "severe brain injury."

Ferguson Police held a press conference Tuesday in which they released police bodycam video showing the suspect running into Officer Brown and knocking him to the pavement. Officer Brown was trying to capture the suspect:

Image source: Ferguson (Mo.) Police Department

Doyle at Tuesday's news conference said some claimed Officer Brown slipped and fell — but the bodycam says something different, KTVI-TV reported.

“If you look at the video, [Officer Brown] is standing up, waiting to catch this guy,” Doyle said, according to the station; he added that the suspect "tackled my guy like he’s a football player.”

Don Van — president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 15, which oversees the Ferguson area — said Officer Brown remained hospitalized and unconscious, USA Today reported.

- YouTube youtu.be

Police said Elijah M. Gantt is the protester who knocked Officer Brown to the ground. Gantt, 28, was charged with first-degree assault, resisting arrest, property damage, and two counts of fourth-degree assault, KTVI reported.

According to police, Gantt kicked another officer in the head during his arrest, the station said, adding that Gantt is being held on a half-million-dollar bond. KTVI added that other protesters are facing additional charges; one of them allegedly tried to grab an officer’s gun while Gantt was being arrested.

“The Ferguson Police Department since 2014 has been a punching bag for this community,” an angry Chief Doyle said at an earlier news conference, noting that the department did “everything the activist community has advocated for as far as body-worn cameras, implicit bias training, crisis intervention training … [so] what are we protesting? What is it? We even changed the uniforms at this police department because people said that the old uniforms triggered people. What are we doing? Ten years later I got an officer fighting for his life. It's enough, and I'm done with it. ... We want people to peacefully protest, but we damn sure ain't gonna allow you to destroy this city, and we ain't gonna allow you to hurt none of these police officers."

In addition, Ferguson police — which had just a few black officers in 2014 — is now over 50% black, said Doyle, who is also black, USA Today noted.

Officer Brown has been on the Ferguson police force since Jan. 2, Doyle noted, adding he "got into this job because he was inspired to do the right thing. He wanted to be a part of the change, he wanted to make an impact in our community, and what happens? He gets assaulted.”

But Officer Brown is no rookie: He was part of the St. Louis Police Department from August 2012 to October 2023 as a patrol and tactical operations officer, USA Today said.

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Four armed men potentially poised to rob Missouri church overwhelmed not by force but by prayer: 'You walked on Holy Ghost turf'



Four armed men wearing masks entered a Missouri church earlier this month with the alleged intent to rob it or worse. They were ultimately overwhelmed, not by a hail of bullets but instead by a hail of prayers.

Marquaello Futrell, pastor at All Creation Northview Holiness Family Church in Ferguson, told KSDK that he knew right away when four masked men walked into a Sunday morning worship service on Feb. 12 — with guns on their waists and bags in hand — that his instincts and prayer kicked in.

"I immediately just had the hairs on the back of my neck, I’m like, 'OK, something’s about to happen,'" said Futrell. "Me being a former police officer, I immediately noticed their waistbands, I’m like, 'There’s something there.'"

The former St. Louis police officer's suspicions were confirmed by a church member's report that one of the men dropped a gun.

Keenly aware that tragedy was just one bad decision away, the pastor made sure to keep his flock from panicking and the suspected gunmen from realizing the police were on their way.

The pastor can be seen making his way down the center aisle of the church in an archived livestream of the incident (around 55:00 in the video), and boldly addressing the masked men: "What's your name? ... In the purple, tell me your name. I can’t hear you."

After prompting each of the young men to account for himself, Futrell asks them, "Who sent you out here? ... Y'all just saw the church and decided to come? Talk to me."

Futrell told Fox News' Laura Ingraham, "We found out later they were wanted in connection with two robberies from convenience stores. ... We believe that they were intending to rob us, do some harm, but we believe that God is the greatest power and we cannot be defeated, so I had those instincts."

Futrell later noted that his camera crew worked to capture close-ups of the suspects, "because I knew we needed some face recognition," and that he had quietly asked the director to "lock the doors and keep the children safe."

The pastor can be seen in the footage engaging not only his congregants but what appear to be staffers near the suspected gunmen, standing at the ready.

"Let's praise God for them coming. I said praise God that God sent them in here," said the pastor. "That what a devil meant for evil ... you messin' with Marquaello Antonio Futrell. Don't you play with me. I still got a cop anointing and I still know what's going on and I still know what's about to happen."

Further defusing the charged situation, Futrell says, "God's about to change the plot of the enemy."

The pastor can be seen turning to the young men's prospective victims and telling them, "Lift your voice and shout out to God!"

Futrell asks the young men to let him pray for them.

Churchgoers can subsequently be seen encircling the alleged would-be robbers, laying hands on their bowed backs, and praying "for the unction of the Holy Ghost."

"See, that wasn’t so bad, brothers. Thank y’all for letting us pray for you. And we're thankful that for whatever reason, the Lord let y’all come here. That when you walked on the ground, you walked on Holy Ghost turf,” he said. "You stepped foot on All Creation parking lot. You encountered the move of the Holy Ghost, and I just believe that you all will never be the same again."

KSDK reported that the young men left without incident after receiving the blessings.

"I believe they felt the power of God lifted in their hands, then they left," said Futrell.

Sunday Morning Worship - Sunday Feb. 12, 2023 youtu.be

The Ferguson Police Department indicated that law enforcement is still searching for the men, who left the scene in a black Dodge Charger with tinted windows.

Pastor Futrell later noted, "That when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard. The flood will never be greater than the standard."

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Ferguson Police Say They Have No Idea What Cori Bush Is Talking About

Local police said they have no records that corroborate "Squad" Cori Bush's claim that "white supremacists" shot at protesters in Ferguson, Mo., following the death of Michael Brown.

The post Ferguson Police Say They Have No Idea What Cori Bush Is Talking About appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush praises BLM activist who called for death of cops and popularized the 'Fry 'em like bacon' chant



Democratic Rep. Cori Bush from Missouri delivered a speech on the House floor, where she lauded an infamous Black Lives Matter activist who called for the death of police officers. With the Israel-Gaza conflict making headlines this week, Bush sang the praises of Bassem Masri, a Palestinian-American Black Lives Matter activist who became well-known because of his vitriolic, at times threatening, rhetoric toward cops.

On Thursday, Bush compared the "militarized occupation" in Palestine to St. Louis after the 2014 shooting of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown Jr.

"As a Palestinian, he was ready to resist, to rebel, to rise up with us as our St. Louis community mourned Mike Brown, Jr.'s state-sanctioned murder, and as we demanded an end to the militarized police occupation of our communities," Bush said on the floor of the House of Representatives. "Palestinians know what state violence, militarized policing, and occupation of their communities look like."

"So when heavily militarized police forces showed up in Ferguson in 2014, Bassem and so many others of our St. Louis Palestinian community, our Palestinian siblings showed up too," the far-left Democrat said.

The fight for Black lives and the fight for Palestinian liberation are interconnected.We oppose our money going t… https://t.co/Ol0Tw7BVgw

— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) 1620950055.0

Following the Ferguson shooting, Masri garnered notoriety for malicious messages that he would scream at police officers. Marsi would regularly threaten police officers, and even call for their deaths.

"Coward straight pig out here b****! You gotta go. Your life is in danger homie," Marsi yelled at cops in October 2014, according to KTVI-TV. During one BLM protest, Marsi asked a police officer, "What happens when we take your gun?"

Marsi went down the line of police officers and pointed at each one, "I'm praying for your death and your death and your death and your death."

Masri was one of the BLM activists who popularized the notorious anti-police chant: "Pigs in a blanket! Fry 'em like bacon!"

Pigs In a Blanket Fry Em Like Baconnnn #Ferguson

— Bassem Masri (@bassem_masri) 1419119274.0


Fry em like whaaaat? #Ferguson #FergusonOctober

— Bassem Masri (@bassem_masri) 1413669803.0

Marsi, who had 40 arrests for traffic violations, passed away in 2018 from what Bush called a "health crisis."

Bush called for an end to foreign aid to Israel during her speech, "That harassment, that extortion, that brutalization by heavily armed militarized presence in our community, that's what we fund when our government sends our tax dollars to the Israeli military."

The congresswoman suggested using those funds to support St. Louis communities instead.

Earlier this month, Bush praised the "historic" vote to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and axe nearly 100 police officer positions, despite the city being one of the most violent in the world.

'Where is all that money going?' Michael Brown's father says Black Lives Matter abandoned Ferguson activists, demands $20 million



The father of Michael Brown Jr., whose death sparked nationwide protest in 2014, is accusing the Black Lives Matter movement of abandoning Ferguson activists and demanding $20 million for community improvement projects.

Michael Brown Sr. released a joint statement with Tory Russell, the director of the International Black Freedom Alliance (IBFA), on Tuesday demanding some of the millions raised by BLM be handed over to activists in Ferguson, Missouri, where 18-year-old Brown Jr. was killed.

"Thousands of other youth activists in their 20s and 30s have been out in the streets protesting for months and months, and years and years. Still forgotten," Russell said in a video released on Twitter.

Today our co-founder, #Ferguson frontline organizer @VanguardTNT alongside #MikeBrown's father demands 20 million f… https://t.co/x2pawwr3Ld
— TheIBFA (@TheIBFA)1614691620.0

"We're asking that Black Lives Matter leadership funds $20 million for Ferguson organizers, organizations and community foundations to do the work," he added.

The statement was in response to a report by the Associated Press that BLM had raised over $90 million in donations to fight systemic racism in 2020.

"We're not begging for a handout, we're coming for what we deserve," Russell said.

A separate statement voiced the concerns from Brown Sr. about the use of the millions donated to BLM.

"Where is all that money going? Who are they giving it to and what are they doing with it?" Brown Sr. asked.

"Why hasn't my family's foundation received any assistance from the movement?" he added. "How could you leave the families who are helping the community without any funding?"

Russell said the money they demanded would be used for community gardens, fellowships, stipends for internships, and annual commemorations of Brown Jr.

The death of Michael Brown Jr. because a nationwide cause for those who saw it as another example of a black male dying at the hands of the police. A grand jury decided against the indictment of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown Jr., who later resigned from the police force. The city of Ferguson settled a lawsuit by the Brown family with a payment of $1.5 million in 2017.

Here's a news video about the Ferguson protests:

Standoff in Ferguson After Death of Michael Brown | The New York Timeswww.youtube.com

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New Documentary Examines The Death Of Michael Brown And Race In America

New Documentary Examines The Death Of Michael Brown And Race In America

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It's come to this, and won't end this weekend. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the shooting Sunday, but still refused to name the organization behind the violence on our streets.